Türkiye's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is due in the United States on Friday to attend a meeting with senior officials from the U.S., Qatar and Egypt on the next phase of the Gaza cease-fire deal, a statement said on Thursday.
"Our minister will attend the Gaza-focused meeting tomorrow (Dec.19) in Miami, with officials participating from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar," the Foreign Ministry said.Discussions will also be held on other regional issues, it added.
Earlier, a White House official told news agencies U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff will hold talks with Turkish, Qatari and Egyptian representatives to discuss the next phase of the Gaza cease-fire agreement.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty will attend the meeting, the Axios news outlet reported. Al Thani was in Washington on Wednesday and met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
"Türkiye will continue to fight determinedly on every front to ensure that what is happening in Gaza is not forgotten, that justice is served," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during a speech on Wednesday.
The meeting comes nearly two months after a cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian resistance group Hamas took effect. The first phase of the deal included a halt to hostilities, partial Israeli withdrawal, hostage-prisoner exchanges, and the entry of full humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave.
The second phase, as envisioned in Trump's 20-point plan, requires the deployment of an international stabilization force, disarmament of Hamas, full Israeli withdrawal and the formation of a "technocratic" Palestinian committee to temporarily rule Gaza.
But progress has so far been slow in moving to the following phase.
Palestinians have accused Israel of repeatedly violating the cease-fire, which halted the two-year genocidal war that has killed over 70,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 170,000 others since October 2023.
According to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 395 Palestinians have been killed and 1,088 others wounded in Israeli attacks since the truce took effect.
